73 World Service journos to lose jobs in cuts frenzy
Friday 19 October 2012
Printable
EmailDozens of journalists are to lose their jobs at BBC World Service when the broadcaster slashes its news budget by a fifth, the National Union of Journalists warned today.
The "terrible assault" is being carried out under the £12 million "Delivering Quality First" cuts programme.
It's part of a bid to slash the BBC's spending by the 16 per cent demanded by Chancellor George Osborne.
In 2010 he froze the licence fee for six years and told the broadcaster that from 2014 it will have to fund the World Service itself, instead of taking Foreign Office money.
Weekday news coverage will drop from 18 hours to 14 hours and documentary slots from four to three.
And workers at its foreign-language services will lose their jobs, with 73 staff on the chopping block.
BBC global news director Peter Horrocks claimed that listeners would still get "the best programming."
But NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the cuts made a mockery of that promise.
The decision comes a year after foreign affairs committee MPs warned that, if the government didn't stump up the cash, the BBC would neglect the World Service.
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